The Greatest Treats Aren't Candy
by Charlie O
Summary: When Tifa tricks Cid into flying to Nibelheim and helping her pass out candy to the local kids for halloween, he hears an intriguing story about a vampire. Pointless Cid/Vin fluff.


**Disclaimer: **Don't own it.

**Warnings: **Swearing (I mean come on, this **is** a Cid x Vin fic, therefor, Cid plays a major role in the story.), Corruption of innocence, and a teaspoon of shonen-ai fluff, and vincent is a bit OOC towards the end. (Vincent gets what Vincent wants! :o)

**Written By: **Charlie O.

**Overall Rating: **T

**Authors Note: **Happy Halloween people! (Or the week of holloween, whatevs.) This is my first Final Fantasy VII fic, I think it's pretty pointless but once the idea came to me it just wouldn't go away. (I hate when that happens.) Also, I don't really know when this fic takes place, I'm gonna guess it takes place about a month or two after the movie. And I couldn't remember if Cid had ever met Marlene, sorry if anything is incorrect.

**The Greatest Treats Aren't Candy**

Cid's heavy boots crunched against the cobblestone streets of Nibelheim as he wandered toward the nearby inn. "What room had Tifa said they were staying in? Two? Six? Was it 217?" He mumbled to himself. He shook his head. "No definitely not 217, that was from something else." He frowned. "I bet it's two." He continued talking to himself, stopping only once he had reached the front porch.

He opened the door of the small inn and wandered up to the front desk. "Excuse me." He said, trying to seem polite. "Can you tell me what room a miss Tifa Lockheart is staying in?"

The girl seated behind the counter fidgeted nervously, internally debating whether or not she should tell this stranger which room her client was staying in. She sighed as he leant casually against the desk, patiently waiting for her answer. She shuffled through a small stack of papers lying in front of her before looking back up at the gruff man before her. "Room number six, sir."

Cid grumbled about changing numbers as he stomped up the stairs and towards door number six. He stopped and knocked and the wooden door when he reached it. He glanced down the stairs, frowning when he realized the girl at the desk was watching him carefully. _'Oh great,' _He thought. _'she must think I'm a rapist or a crazy ex-boyfriend.' _Cid gagged slightly. Just the idea of him and Tifa made him sick. She was a nice girl but definitely not someone Cid would ever want to date.

Just as he was bringing his fist up to once again begin pounding on the door, the door opened and his fist as stopped by a smaller, leather covered hand.

"Cid!" Tifa exclaimed in delight. "I'm so glad you made it, your timing is impeccable."

Cid frowned. "Tifa, what was so important that you needed me to fly all the way down here?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "Cid, you just live on the other side of the mountains. It shouldn't have taken you more than an hour to fly here."

"Thats not the point." Cid snapped. "And you didn't answer my question."

"It's Halloween!" A little girl from behind Tifa exclaimed.

"Huh, is it really?"

The little girl nodded eagerly.

He grinned and looked at Tifa. "I didn't know you had a kid."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "I **don't**. That's Marlene, Barret's daughter."

"Oh alright." Cid frowned slightly. "If she's Barret's daughter, why is she white?" Tifa gave him a quick slap upside the head. "Goddamn woman, I just asked a question."

"She's **adopted**." Tifa said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which really it kind of was.

"Oh ok, my bad." He said with a sheepish grin. He glanced over Tifa's shoulder and waved at the young girl. "Nice to meet'cha Marlene." She smiled and waved back. He quickly returned his gaze to the busty woman in front of him. "So why am I here?"

Tifa grinned. "Well Cloud is going to take Marlene around the town when trick or treating starts, so your going to help me hand out candy to the other kids."

"Well why not stay in Midgar? There're many more places to get candy there." Cid pointed out.

Tifa sighed. "We're here so Cloud can make his own memories."

Cid groaned. "Alright I'll help out."

()

Cid stretched uncomfortably against the back of the plastic chair he was sitting in. "Tifa, I don't think any kids are coming." He mumbled, pulling a small chocolate bar from the bowl in his lap. He glanced at the wrapper. "I don't get it. Why the fuck is it called fun size? What the hell is fun about a smaller than normal candy bar?"

Tifa shook her head slightly in exasperation. "I dunno, Cid. And I'm sure there are kid's in the town. The lady running the Inn said that it would be nice of us if we gave out candy. I assumed that meant that there were kids in town."

Cid tilted the chair onto its back to legs, letting his head fall back to look up at the dark sky.

"Oh! Here's some." Tifa said happily.

Cid plunked the chair back onto all fours and glanced down the street at the small group of kids that were wandering over.

The small group of kids stopped in front of him and grinned before shouting in unison. "Trick or Treat!"

Cid leant forward and eyed the children. "Give me a reason why I should let you have this candy."

"Oh for pete's sake Cid, just give them the candy." Tifa snapped in disbelief, she was starting to think that Barret or Reeve would have been a better choice for the assistant candy giver job. She couldn't believe she had thought that Cid would be good with kids.

One of the kids grinned and stepped forward, clearly taking the place as leader. "We all touched the Mansion!"

Cid blinked in confusion. He handed them the bowl and let them stuff as much as they could into their small orange buckets. "You touched the mansion huh?"

"Yep!" they nodded, clearly quite proud of themselves.

"Y'know, I've been in there before. Walked all the way down to the basement."

The kids gaped at him in shock. "But didn't the vampire get you?" One of the boys asked.

"Vampire?" He asked.

"Yeah!" The leader cried in excitement. "My mom always told us not to go up there because if we did, the vampire would catch us and drink our blood!"

Cid frowned slightly. "What does the vampire look like?"

The leader grinned. "Tommy saw him, didn't you Tommy?" He asked the boy behind him.

Tommy nodded eagerly. "Yeah! He had long crazy black hair and glowing red eyes! He had super pale skin and he was really tall. He was crazy scary." The boy said with wide eyes.

Cid smiled softly. "He doesn't sound scary at all. In fact, he sounds like he could even pass as pretty."

The kids all looked up at him in surprise. "Did you not hear what he said?" The leader asked in disbelief. "Tommy! Tell him again."

Tommy opened his mouth to repeat what he had said but Cid cut him off. "Yeah yeah yeah, I heard what he said, it just doesn't sound that scary to me." He said with a grin.

"Well your wrong." The leader snapped defensively.

"Oi, Tifa, is Vin home?" Cid asked.

"I dunno, we didn't check. I kind of assumed he was out looking for ways to redeem himself or something."

Cid scowled at the woman.

"Sorry?" She asked.

Cid turned his attention back to the three young boys in front of him. "Tell you what, how 'bout we go check. Then we'll see who's right and who's wrong."

The three boys eyed the pilot uncertainly before looking at each other. Eventually the leader of the group turned toward Cid. "We accept your challenge. Take us to the Mansion!"

()

Cid waltzed up the steps of ShinRa Mansion with the three young boys that he now knew to be Will, Tommy, and Eric.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this." Eric spoke up nervously as they reached the door.

"Don't worry kid, if anything nasty comes out I've got my spear to protect us." Cid said with a grin before reaching up and knocking his fist against the large mahogany doors. They waited for about thirty seconds before Cid frowned. "Huh." He glanced around the porch, his eyes resting on a long chain hanging from the porch ceiling next to the door. He grinned before tugging the chain down, wincing when he heard the loud screech of a doorbell. "Well... if he's home he definitely heard that..." He mumbled.

Eric whimpered slightly. "Guys... I'm scared..."

Will turned around and patted his friend on the head. "S'ok, Mister Cid will protect us."

'Mister Cid' held a finger to his lips, indicating for the boys to be quiet. Almost instantly all their mouths quickly shut.

Cid pressed his ear against the door, grinning when he heard one of the floor boards creak as they struggled with a sudden shift in weight. Cid lifted his fist and once again began pounding it against the thick doors.

Cid's grin grew as one of the doors opened a crack and an all too familiar gun was pointed at his head. The three boys behind him gasped in horror.

Cid clucked his tongue against the front of his mouth before quickly kicking the door open, left hand grabbing the golden claw holding the gun, his right hand wrapping around the newly exposed body, flinging the shocked "vampire" into a low dip and holding the tall man just a foot off the ground. "Now Vincent..." He said calmly, voice slightly husky. "...is that how you greet all of your friends when they come to visit?"

Cid could barely hold back his blush when he finally heard the smooth voice drifting out from behind the other man's large red collar. "No, just you Highwind."

"Gee how flattering." He said sarcastically, pulling the gothic man back up to his feet.

Once Vincent had managed to get his footing he carefully straightened his now ruffled robes. He glanced up and frowned. "What's with the kids?"

"Oh yeah!" Cid exclaimed. "I forgot about them." He grinned sheepishly. "This is Will," He pointed at the leader. "Tommy, and Eric." He said pointing out the other two boys.

Vincent raised an uncertain eyebrow at the wide curious eyes staring up at him.

"Is it true that you're a vampire?" Will blurted out.

Vincent blinked in shock.

"Do you drink blood?" Tommy added.

"Does it taste good?" Eric piped up.

"Do you kidnap girls and eat their hearts?" Will asked.

"NO!" Both Vincent and Cid shouted at the same time.

"To which one?" Will asked.

"All of them." Cid responded.

"Oh." The kids seemed dissappointed. They all looked at each other and suddenly they all thrust their pumpkin buckets forward. "Trick or Treat!" They shouted.

Vincent glanced down in slight surprise. "I don't have any candy."

The boys all gaped openly at him, including Cid. "How can you not have candy?" Cid asked in shock.

"I wasn't aware you had a sweet tooth captain." Vincent remarked slyly.

All the little boys' eyes turned to Cid. "Your a captain?" Will asked. "Of what?"

"Ah, an airship." Cid grumbled., unhappy that Vincent had shifted the children's attention to him.

"Wow..." The boys said in unison.

"He was also one of the first people to go to outer space..." Vincent added, thoroughly enjoying making the other man squirm.

"God damn it Vince, Shut up." Cid snapped.

They were all completely silent for a moment before... "What does damn mean?"

Cids eyes widened. "Oh shi-" Vincent quickly reached out to cover Cid's mouth with his human hand. He carefully pulled away when he was sure it was safe. "Uh... it's a really bad word that you shouldn't say." Cid explained.

"Well if it's so bad then why did you say it?" Will asked.

"Because I'm an asshole." Cids eyes widened once again as he slapped his hand against his forehead.

"Whats an asshole?"

"Another word you shouldn't say." Vincent said softly, not trusting Cid to answer.

"Oh." The kids said, once again feeling dissappointed.

Cid scratched the back of his head before sighing slightly. "So, do you guys admit that I was right?"

Will scowled. "Fine, you were right, the vampire isn't scary." The boy shuffled his feet slightly. "And I guess he **is** kinda pretty."

Vincent raised a dark eyebrow, eyes trailing over to look at Cid's surprised face.

"Ah..." Cid chuckled nervously. "Well, I told you so."

"It's getting late, Cid. Maybe we should take them home." Vincent said softly.

"We don't wanna go home!" The kids shouted.

"Sorry kids, but Vince is right." Cid began walking down the porch steps, only to stop at the bottom and frown. "Uh... where do you kids live anyway?"

One of the kids sighed in mock exasperation. "Follow us." Will said, marching down the steps and ahead of Cid.

()

The two older men trailed behind the young children silently, unsure of where they were going. As they wandered through the stony streets, they passed many small shops decorated with orange pumpkins and black bats, filling the street with spooky holiday cheer.

Vincent stopped to look at the small storefronts

"Vince?" Cid asked.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a minute." Vincent said distractedly.

Cid frowned. "Alright, your sure you'll be able to find us?"

Vincent smirked slightly from behind his collar. "It's a small town Cid, I think I'll manage."

Cid nodded before walking away after the three young boys.

()

Cid whistled softly as they made their way to the final house. It was now just Cid and Will, and Cid was getting a slightly bad feeling about this. Most of the children's mothers had thanked him for making sure their children had gotten home safely, but somehow, Cid had a good feeling that Will's mother would have the same personality as her son, and that she wouldn't be quite as thankful as the rest of the parents.

Cid winced when he heard the little boy open the door to his small house. Almost immediately after the door was open a blond woman came rushing to the door, stopping to give her son a stern look. "Will!" She snapped. "Where have you been? Trick or Treating was over an hour ago."

"It's okay mom, I was with Mister Cid." He pointed to Cid. "He's an asshole!"

Cid choked on the spit he had been swallowing as the woman's eyes narrowed on him. Sometimes, Cid hated being right.

"Is that so?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Will nodded enthusiastically. "He took us up to the mansion to meet the vampire! He was really cool! Kinda quiet though..."

The woman's eyes widened to a ridiculous size, if Cid hadn't been so scared of her, he probably would have laughed. She turned her gaze to her son and attempted to smile. "Honey why don't you go inside and eat some candy."

"Okay!" The boy cried, completely forgetting the conversation he had been having as he ran up to his room.

As soon as she was sure the little boy was tucked into his room, she rounded on the captain, eyes burning with anger. "You took my son to the mansion!?" She shouted.

"Was that... bad?" Cid asked, hoping if he played innocent the woman would just assume he was stupid and leave him alone. It didn't work.

"Bad? BAD!?" She screamed voice raising as she spoke. "That monster could have killed him!"

"Look lady!" Cid shouted, finally sick of her whiny screaming. "I don't know where you got the idea, but there is no god damn vampire in that mansion!"

"How could you possibly know that!?" She snapped in irritation.

"Because I've been there! The only things in there a couple of fucked up pumpkins and a lonely Gothic boy."

"Boy?" Asked a deep voice to Cid's left. Both Cid and the irate woman whipped around to see the tall gothic man frowning. "You know as well as I do that I'm a bit too old to be referred to as a "Boy", Cid."

"Vin, how long have you been there?" Cid asked in surprise.

Vincent glanced at the mousy blond woman and sighed. "Long enough." He pulled out a large bag from the inside of his cloak and held it out in front of the scruffy blonde.

Cid frowned and grabbed the bag. A quick glance inside and his face was split with a large grin. He held the bag out to the now stunned woman. "Give this to your kid okay? And make sure he shares with his friends."

Vincent frowned. "That was for you Highwind."

The woman took one glance at the contents of the bag and quickly tossed it back at Cid. "I refuse to let my son eat candy from a complete stranger."

Cid snorted as he caught the bag. "What do you think Trick or Treating is?"

Vincent laid his golden claw against Cid's shoulder. "Come on Chief, let's go."

Cid scowled as he was pulled away from the small doorway, flashing the woman a series of offensive hand gestures before turning around and following the taller man.

()

Cid flopped down onto the top of the grassy hill they had been walking up. "God, what a bitch!" He reached up to the pack of cigarettes in his goggles, quickly pulling one from the small package and lighting it up, sighing contentedly as he took a deep drag.

Vincent stood awkwardly beside Cid for a moment before finally deciding to join the pilot on the ground.

Vincent cleared his throat uncertainly before breaking the silence. "Thank you, for defending me and what not." Vincent mumbled.

Cid laughed. "Nah, don't mention it. It was partially my fault anyway. If I hadn't have brought you out into the world you wouldn't have had to deal with that."

"Why did you come visit me anyway?" Vincent asked uncertainly.

Cid smiled softly, taking another drag from his cig. "Well, Kids talk y'know? I was hoping if they met you, they would tell the rest of their friends that you weren't scary, and then all the kids would tell their parents, and then the town would come to its fucking senses and relise that you were nothing to be afraid of."

Vincent laughed. "Unfortunately, I don't think something as simple as a child's tale would change their minds. But, I appreciate the effort." He leant over to press a soft kiss to the pilot's stubbled cheek. When he pulled away he sighed softly. "But it doesn't matter, I don't intend to stay here much longer."

Cid frowned as he rubbed his now red cheek. "What d'you mean? Where are you gonna go?"

Vincent nibbled at his lip slightly in thought. "Well, I was hoping the offer from last month was still standing."

Cid frowned, scanning his brain for memories of last month. He grinned. "You wanna stay on the Sierra?"

"If it's alright with you." Vincent added.

Cid sighed. "I'm fine with you staying and all... but now I actually have to clean out one of the guest rooms."

"Actually... you don't **have **to clean out a room..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Cid asked, completely clueless.

"Well..." Vincent said trailing off while moving slightly closer to the confused pilot. "I could just stay in your room."

Cid blinked, letting the information process into his brain. He grinned when it finally clicked. Cid turned his head to look at Vincent, their faces only a couple inches apart. "And I suppose I'll be the one that will have to sleep on the fucking floor."

Vincent smirked. "Naturally." He mumbled before sliding his mouth forward to meet Cid's.

()

Will grinned as he led his trouble brigade up the mansion steps. Just as he reached the door he noticed a small piece of paper pinned to the doorknob. He grabbed the paper and began reading the scrawled script.

_Dear Will, Tommy, and Eric,_

_Went on vacation, won't be back for a while._

_-Cid and Vincent_

"...god damn it."

**-End-**


End file.
